Danganronpa Desperation
by Pandasoft
Summary: Caleb Liu, the Ultimate Vanisher has to be dragged into the middle of a battle zone. The school killing game ran by a mysterious figure has forced twenty students to confront betrayal, a loss of innocence, despair, hope, death, lies, and the undeniable truth. A single question rings in the air, "You like games don't you?" Students: 20
1. Chapter 0: Prelude to Despair

"So what are you proposing?" A young muffled childlike voice rang out into nothingness stuffing his face with the strawberry cake in front of him barely paying attention to the figure sitting across from him at their small table.

"Nothing much, just a game, you like games don't you?" A robotic voice replied.

The young boy looked up from his cake and having finished chewing, swallowed his food before taking in his company. A strange figure for sure most would be frightened walking past them in the daylight. A gas mask and a cloak hiding his body from his neck to feet covering his entire body besides his hands that stuck out of his sleeves fingers laced together. They sat their back straight against the back of the chair watching the young boy. No, it was more like he was analyzing the boy, taking in every detail. Creepy.

Brushing brown whips of hair off his forehead the boy replied, "What kind of game?"

A chill ran up the boys spine, he felt as if the figure was smiling despite being unable to see their face and then the mechanical voice responded, "Only the best kind of game there is, obviously a killing game," and the most disturbing laugh the young boy had ever heard rang out in complete insanity.

The young boy looked down back at his cake waiting for the laughter to die down he thought of the ridiculousness of the suggestion. A killing game? How savage of a thought. That storyline has been done before and he was getting a bit tired of it. The Hunger Games, Battle Royal, and more. This obsession with watching people kill each other was disturbing and people ate it up. Taking another bite of his cake the laughter stopped and he considered. Maybe that was all true but still. A real killing game? How would people act? How would they betray each other? How would they kill each other? The young boy smiled.

"When do we start?"

 _ **Chapter Zero: Prelude to Despair**_

The excitement of New York never seemed to stop in the near eight years the boy had lived there. Something exciting was always happening in the city that he loved where anyone could be whomever they wanted. It was the city he came too when he seemed to have no hope for his future, too him it was a city of hope. Of course, besides all the excitement he found in New York life he never had to worry about finding a client. Someone in this city was always seeking out his services so he made a comfortable living. He at one point would go for walks through the city but due to some complications, he decided it was for the best to go out at night if the situation called for it. Of course, the reason he wasn't out walking five minutes ten PM wasn't for one of these special situations. Thought it was special in a way and anyone could tell the teenager walking down the street was in a good mood if they bothered to take notice of me. He had a smile reaching from ear to ear and a red envelope with a unique symbol that had been sealing it closed but now had been torn in half. Ther red envelope sporting in cursive white letters his first and last name, Caleb Liu.

The boy didn't seem to look of any importance to any passerby. His thick floppy brown hair seemed to bounce as he walked and his eyes a dark brown color seemed to dart around in a seemingly frantic way despite the smile plastered on his face; a faded small scar hovered over his right eyebrow. He had a thin build and light brown in his skin color. He sported a sleeveless black jacket leaving the front unzipped showing an untucked blue button-up shirt. He sported a pair of black skinny jeans and velcro strap trainees for his shoes. Just another basic looking individual living in New York.

Though the letter he had received had proved he was anything but normal. The opportunity that had been given to him would change everything in his life, maybe with this, he can pursue a different path in life than his current one. There was only one thing, no more like a certain person that would ultimately affect his decision if he would go or not. He ran over the contents of the letter one again in his head.

 _ **Dear Mr. Liu,**_

 ** _We have been working tirelessly the past couple months in search of outstanding students unlike any other across the globe to attend our newly open high school. The Ultimate School for gifted students, Hopes Peak Sister Location, our newest attempt at including students from beside Japan to attend our prestigious school with all its benefits. I'm sure you've heard of Japan's very own Hope's Peak Academy and the guarantee of a successful life. After much consideration, we have chosen you for your skills of helping people disappear from their old lives to start afresh, and while that may be a bit illegal, we are willing to overlook it and help you use your skill set in a more government-friendly way. We hope to see you there as the Ultimate Vanisher._**

 ** _-Hopes Peak Administration._**

This was an opportunity few people in the world where given. Of course, that was one of the reasons he wanted to join. The other was the unsettling thought that they were able to find out who he was since his work was kept under wraps. He had a feeling that if he didn't accept the invitation thinks may get a bit complicated for him. The third reason was that if he was sent a letter then she must have, so with this thought in mind he arrived at her doorstep his hand gripping the envelope. He had a feeling that from the moment he ran this doorbell everything would change and a more hopeful future then he had now. How wrong he would soon find out he was...

 ** _All right then everyone! That ends Chapter 0! I hope I was able to portray Caleb well in the little section he appeared in, he is after all the protagonist. See you in the next chapter._**


	2. Prologue: Sink or Despair I

The smells of the ocean hit me in the face as I stepped out of the black limousine that had parked in the car lot above the pier. The air was nothing I had ever had the pleasure of experiencing in my life, as far as I knew at least. I have lived in New York most of my life, after all, I was unable to remember the last time I had left the city for any kind of vacation. It has been about a week since the letter had been sent from Hope's Peak staff and having quickly accepted the offer I was surprised to not only find out the school had been built on a remote island but as well the transportation was going to be paid in full. I guess the rumors of treating their students extremely well were true after all.

They first had me take a plane from New York to a small port town and was picked up in a private limousine with snacks and drinks inside. After a maybe fifteen minute ride, they had driven me to the pier to be picked up by a ship that would finally bring me to my destination. The sea stretched up below like an endless road of hope and life, I will be living by this brilliant ocean every day during his attendance at Hope's Peak Sister School. Of course, these thoughts of grandeur and adventure filled my end but it didn't stop the creeping nervousness that had taken hold of me. Not only will all the other students be complete strangers to me besides one of them who I would be meeting up with before the entrance ceremony if all things went according to the plan of course. Thier was, of course, the issue with my ultimate title. The Ultimate Vanisher.

 _ **Caleb Liu**_

 ** _Male, Seventeen years of age_**

 ** _The Ultimate Vanisher_**

It certainly was a strange sounding talent name but that's honestly because of the fact that there is no professional name for what I do. I guess you could call me the man of second chances, that's what I'm known as it the underground of New York at least. People come to me in need of a special kind of help only I can provide, my customers usually include those who have had something terrible happen to them and want to start over far away, or good people caught up in bad business, or those who just want a redo on life. Those people come to me and for a, let's just say a heavy sum of money, I provide them with a fake Id, transportation to where they desire to go, and connections that will help them start fresh and anew. It's a unique job, and while I don't know if I want to stay with this career path for the long term, I take pride in my work and it helps pays the bills so I guess its okay. The only thing not okay is that I will most likely be the only student who is classified an on the run criminal at the school.

I may as well be the Ultimate Criminal. It's not really the best way to make friends in my attempt at a new life but I'll have to make do with the situation life has kicked me into. While I pondered the situation that I was in I had unconsciously made my way to the pier where my ship awaited. It was really something, it was a cruise liner with HP painted in giant red letters on the nose of the ship. While I lived in a fairly decent middle-class house I have never had the pleasure of riding a cruise liner. This was supposed to serve as a meet and greet for the incoming students of the new school. Maybe for once, I will be able to net myself some friends that aren't Tallulah, not to say she isn't the best, I love her like a sister but I've never had any other friends so this is a new experience for me. Not aware of what was in store for me on this cruise liner I took an attempt confident step onto the white metallic bridge that leads up to the ship. I wasn't aware that I had taken that last step I'd ever get to take on solid land. My life had just been stolen, a weight tied to it and kicked into a vast sea. Not a sea of opportunity and new beginnings like I thought it would be, but a red sea of lies and betrayal where even trusting yourself was a fatal mistake. A red sea of pure unfiltered despair.

 _ **Prologue: Sink or Despair**_

Once I had nearly made my way up the ramp to the ship I saw two figures having a conversation at the top of the ramp. One of the figures I expected to see, an older man with black sunglasses and brown combed back hair. He wore a white undershirt with a black vest and red tie. The whole look was pulled together by black slacks and nice black shoes. An obvious security guard, most likely placed here to make sure only ultimate students boarded the ship keeping stowaways out. While a stowaway would be eventually caught people would do anything to attend Hopes Peak even if their actions were obviously pointless. Though I wonder if this school was made public knowledge yet for that exact reason.

While the security guard being stationed there wasn't of any importance to note, it was the other figure talking to them that was truly interesting. She was a polar opposite to the professional feel the security guard she was talking too as she leaned on the railing of the ship. She had her hair braided back in a ponytail leading down the length of her back to her waist. She had a white belly cut shirt and she was sporting putting all the focus on her pretty big bust size; the shirt revealed her belly button and her dark chocolate skin color. She had black shorts reaching her knees with a yellow button keeping it closed and black stocking covering the rest of her leg and nice black flat shoes. Upon hearing my footsteps approach she cocked her head in my direction and smiled. She had green deep eyes and red lipstick covering his lips that are curling into a smile.

She pushed herself upright and bounced in front of me standing eye level as I reached the top of the ramp and addressed me, "Hey there cutie! You a student coming to Hope's Peak as well! It's wonderful to meet you and I look forward to attending school with you! The name is Mary Stonecraft, you may have heard of me from a few concerts across the country! Now how about a date sometime?"

 _ **Mary Stonecraft**_

 _ **Female, Eighteen years of age**_

 _ **The Ultimate Singer**_

Mary Stonecraft or know properly known as The Ultimate Singer is known across the country for her beautiful singing skills, her voice has said to bring tears to the king of Britain's eyes at his own private showing and the prince tried to marry her before turning her down. She can sing not only classical, but she puts famous rock and country artists to shame as well. Hearing her sing in person is an honor in itself with tickets to her show costing thousands of dollars. She is truly an ultimate deserving of her title. Though she did appear much more elegant on TV, I guess though that's not really a fair comparison.

"I'm sorry Mary but I'm going to have to turn down your date request, I'd prefer if we were just classmates from this day forward," I responded mustering the best smile I could and putting my hand out in the gesture of a handshake.

Now what should have happened in this situation is that she would shake my hand and we would continue with our lives, now, of course, this woman would not do that, instead she decided to clasp my hand with both of her ruby red fingernailed hands and say, "I could make you feel really good though."

Now, of course, I did the rational thing for any person to do in this situation. I decided to nope the hell out of their, so I pulled my hand gently out of her grasp and came up with the best, most clever excuse I could come up with on the spot, "Sorry! I need to go check if my belongings made it safely to my room!"

"The security guard tapped my shoulder as I turned to walk away," Excuse me, sir, what is your last name?"

"Oh, my last name is Liu and here is my invite."

The guard took it from my hand and nodded to himself before putting it in his pocket and instead pulled out a pocketbook and a key. Drawing a line with a red pen, probably to cross my name off the attendance list before passing my a key with a name tag on it saying, Liu. It was most likely the key to my room.

After mouthing good luck in his dealings with Mary, I then proceeded to walk briskly, but calmly, away from the situation and towards what the map I had received of the cruise ship told me the rooms where located. That was someone to be wary of during my school life that's for sure. It wasn't until I began to walk down the length of the ship until I realized how high up it was, it seemed to tower over the pier as if it would tip over and crush it. As I approached the door leading to our temporary dormitories I pushed the thought out of my head and took notice of another interesting looking individual sitting outside the room.

It was another girl and assuming by how she looked another Hope's Peak student. She was skinny and had an hourglass figure and what looked to be a C cup. Her chocolate colored hair was cut into the style of a small bob. She appeared to be around five foot two, a full three inches shorter than myself. Her sapphire blue eyes stared up at me and her dimples were prominent with her smile. She wore a simple blue blouse and a blue tie that matched her black vest, skirt, and dress shoes along with her light blue leggings. What I couldn't quite figure out was why she held both of her hands behind her back.

Trying my best to be friendly I introduced myself first, "Hi I'm Caleb Liu. I guess we'll be classmates from today forward."

"That's right," she chirped in a bit of a childish tone, "it's nice to meet you! I'm Cocoa Clements and this is Victor!"

Her hands shot out from behind her back to reveal her hand has in fact in the back of a small person. He had sapphire blue hair and brown eyes with a pink button nose. He had a scar carved in the shape of a lightning bolt on his right cheek and his brown hair was brushed to the right and sported a cowlick. The mini person wore a black fedora with a blue trim, a blue tie, white dress shirt under a black suit, black dress pants and shoes, and has a golden pocket watch in the shirt pocket.

 _ **Cocoa Clements**_

 ** _Female, Fifteen years of age_**

 ** _The Ultimate Ventriloquist_**

"Nice to fucking meet ya Caleb!"

I've seen a lot of messed up shit in my life but nothing has startled me like this. The doll had spoken by itself, the entire time it had spoken Cocoa's mouth had remained shut smiling.

"You look so shocked, its only Victor," Cocoa continued with her innocent smile.

That's about how long it took for all my thoughts to connect to an actually very simple conclusion.

"So you must be the Ultimate Ventriloquist then Cocoa?"

She put her left hand behind her head and smiled at me sheepishly, "Yeah I guess that's what the school calls me but I'm truly not anything special."

Truly not anything special, a very different attitude then Mary was showing off when I had arrived. It was also a thought I could relate too quite nicely to be completely honest. While I will full-heartedly admit that I am particularly skilled in my career and I take a lot of pride in that fact. Being called the Ultimate Vanisher was a whole completely matter though. At Hope's Peak in Japan there have been people far more amazing then my talent could ever be compared too. There was the Ultimate Soldier who never left a battlefield with a single wound, the Ultimate Princess who runs an entire nation herself, and the Ultimate Pharmacist whose medicines have saved millions of lives. And that was only to name a few of the amazing people who had come out of Hope's Peak Academy.

"Stop being a fucking crybaby ya wiener!" Victor yelled apparently catching both me and Cocoa off guard, "you worked really hard to get where you are today! You are much more qualified to be here then that sleazy bimbo flirting with that security chump over yonder!"

Cocoa made a face of kinda disgust, "Victor... language," her face then turned into a kind of soft smirk, "but thank you. Anyways Victor! You've probably very busy! See you later Caleb!"

Cocoa turned away and skipped pass me in the direction of Mary and the guard. I laughed a little to myself, at least my classmates will be an interesting bunch. I opened the door to the dormitory only to walk into an interesting conversation.

"I've read the Bible front to back, twice. I have no interest in your spiels about God."

A boy that was about my age was giving a stern looking to the person he was talking too. He had a palish white skin color and had shaggy brown hair reaching the top of his neck. His blueish grey eyes shown through a pair of dark blue glasses that had a small diagonal scar above his left eyebrow. He was sporting a dark green shirt with blue jeans and a black hoodie. Strapped across his chest ending at the top of his left leg was a black book bag. In his left hand, he was gripping a copy of the complete Sherlock Holmes collection. He had this contorted annoyed look on his face.

"But of course Douglas as the Ultimate Reader it is your job to read as much as you can, I am not surprised you've read the Bible, it is still my responsibility to tell all God's children of his greatness," the second man responded.

 _ **Douglas Odysseus**_

 _ **Male, Seventeen years of age**_

 _ **The Ultimate Reader**_

His expression softened as he responded,"I understand that but you've been preaching for about half an hour Samael."

The one named Samael raised both of his hands into the air with a giant grin,"Why I wouldn't be known as the Ultimate Priest if I gave up easily know would I?

 _ **Samael Frederik**_

 _ **Male, Eighteen years of age**_

 _ **The Ultimate Priest**_

The priest had a pale white skin color and long golden blonde hair with wide friendly hazel eyes. He wore white gloves with a with priest robe with gold trimming. He had a cross hanging from his neck and a Bible tucked into a book pouch on his left side. I was about to introduce myself when Douglas had finally noticed me and made eye contact and mouth a single word. Go. Taking the advice and hint I quickly speed walk past the rows of doors as Samael glanced at me passing by. As I made sure none of the doors had a nameplate with my name on it I turned the corner in search of the room with Liu on it. That's when I found her standing outside said room.

She has straight, silvery-blond hair with a side-swept fringe that was kept slightly longer than shoulder length. She had dyed some streaks of various rainbow colors into her hair and it was in a high, messy ponytail with a simple hair band. Her eyes are dark blue and oval shaped and her complexion is typically Caucasian. She had a healthy, athletic build, with moderate curves and she gives off this mature vibe. She wore a thin black jumper over a white collared shirt, both left untucked over a pair of plain blue denim shorts, which in turn are worn over colorfully patterned tights. In replace of a belt she wore a purple silky material that went through the loopholes of her tights being tied in the back. She wore a wristwatch with a purple-and-blue beaded-bracelet-style strap she wears around her left wrist and a silver necklace with a 'T' shaped pendant embedded with a purple gemstone at the bottom of the long part of the letter. She was Tallulah Hall, the Ultimate Skip-Tracer, and my best friend as well as rival.

 _ **Tallulah Hall**_

 _ **Female, Eighteen years of age**_

 _ **The Ultimate Skip-Tracer**_

Her eyes light up when she saw me, "Caleb!"

Tallulah sprinted over and grabbed me pulling me into a big bear hug which I gladly returned. It certainly was strange that we were as close as we are, in all technicalities she should have turned me into the police a long time ago and she has had plenty of opportunities to do so. The Ultimate Vanisher, whose job is to help people disappear and the Ultimate Skip-Tracer, whose job is to find said people. We should butt heads and clash and treat each other like mortal enemies but I guess that's too adult for us. In all honesty, our paths crossed so much that we ended up being friends, and our paths have once again crossed as classmates at Hope's Peak Sister Location. Before you start getting any weird ideas there is no way in heaven or hell that we would ever start dating, I see her as a sister and she's a lesbian so she couldn't be interested in me. We've known each other so long it would be weird if we did start going out. Tallulah was actually the deciding factor if I would attend here or not. As soon as I had received the letter I had marched straight down to her apartment to see if she had gotten one because well she deserved it. And wouldn't you know it she did, so not only did I get to attend a school that could change my future, but I also got to do it with my only friend. A huge victory in my book.

After releasing me she gave me a beaming smile, "How was the trip?"

"It was pretty okay. Nothing too out of the ordinary which is surprising considering the school we're going too," I replied.

"Yeah, there are some pretty unique people here that is for sure. A singer who walks to get in the pants of the security guard, a priest who talked to me for a solid twenty minutes, and I ran into this guy walking around with a mask covering half his face," she said gesturing widely to make her point.

"There are quite a bit of weirdos here," I said chuckling, "We'll fit right in."

Tallulah glanced at her wristwatch," Thier's suppose to be a welcome party for all the new students at 21:00 on the main deck, so in about six hours. Now I don't know about you but I am absolutely exhausted, didn't get much sleep last night so I'm going to go take a nice long nap."

Tallulah gave me another big hug and scurried off back around the corner where I had come from. As she walked away I was hit with a sudden wave of exhaustion, I had been awake tossing and turning with a mix of excitement and nervousness most of the night. A nap sounded great right about now in all honesty. Drawing the key from my pocket I put it into the keyhole to my room and unlocked the door. Removing the key I turned the doorknob and I pushed the door open stepping into my room. The room was well kept, to the right of the entrance was a sink next to a bathroom door that I didn't bother messing with it right now since I had used the restroom at the airport when I got off. Straight ahead was a brown square table with a mini-fridge in the middle of it with a cable plugging it into the wall; right next to the plug in the wall was a walk-in closet and a storage unit that I went and checked to make sure all my items had arrived safely. In the corner of the room was a king sized bed with blue blankets facing parallel to the door with a side table with a lamp plugged in that was currently off. On the end of the bed was a little white elephant make up little towels. The last thing in the room of importance was a phone hanging on the wall for room service I assumed and a clock nailed into the wall next to it, all in all, it was pretty nice and I personally wouldn't mind staying here for awhile. After making sure I locked my door so I wouldn't be disturbed I walked over and flopped onto the bed my back hitting the blankets first my feet hanging off the side of the bed.

I smiled to myself, I had finally made it. After years of working in the underground, I may finally be able to change the future that was set in stone for me. Now I can grow old happy that I did something with my life, maybe I'll become a firefighter or a teacher, heck maybe I'll decide to become a police officer. This is what I have been fighting for since I ran away that fateful day. A bright future and a life of hope, I closed my eyes with these great thoughts clouded by heck settling me in a warm cloud-like feeling into a dream world.

 **To be continued...**

 _ **Ahhhh! Hey! This is the author here! I've been working on this chapter since Halloween Night and it's great too actually have this finished! I'll try to keep this short so I can start working on the next part of the prologue. Also yes sorry that this is a bit of a slow start but I promise that we'll be getting to the interesting bits very very soon. Also, I want to hear what you all think of the character I've introuduced so far and how im doing in my writing! Alright then! See you in the next chapter!**_


	3. Prologue: Sink or Despair II

I was ripped out of my dream world to the sound of knocking, a solid thump thump thump. As I slowly awoke from grogginess I heard extremely light footsteps heading away from my room, it sounded like it was heading in the direction of the dormitory exit. Sitting up kind of hunched over I glanced over at the clock on my wall noticing it was 8:30, it was a half an hour until the party on the deck was supposed to happen. Now that I was awake I figured I may as well explore the area around the dock until the party started as I was curious about what this massive ship had to offer, maybe I'll meet some more of my classmates while I was out and about as well. Standing up something caught my attention from the corner of my eye that I was sure wasn't there before. On the table with the fridge was a small sleek device sitting on the edge of it. Approaching the device I took a closer look, it was a nice looking sleek black color with a red jagged thunderbolt facing sideways. It was overall pretty weird looking.

It perfectly fit in the width of the base of my palm to the tip of my fingertips. It seemed like a type of phone but none I have ever seen in any type of phone store. Finding a white button on the top right of the phone I pressed it causing white text to immediately pop up on my screen, the screen was displaying my first and last name. After the text disappeared it showed up a list of icons going across the screen sideways on a blue backdrop. Going from left to right there was an icon of a globe with the word Map underneath it. There was only one other icon on the screen being a text box and underneath that was the word contact. Discovering this was a bit unnerving because this being here means someone entered my room while I was asleep and just left this here, on another note this was device was completing useless. Setting it down I reached for the map that I had received my invitation letter and my own phone only to come up empty along with the key I had received when I first got here. Pocketing the device I felt like something was off, nothing visual that seemed to set off any red flags but I had this feeling that just made me uncomfortable and despite not knowing where my stuff was I just wanted to get out of the room. Then I saw some else more unsettling, two new things had been added to the room in my five and a half hours I was asleep. There was a yellow surveillance camera that was focused directly on me in the corner of the room and on the wall directly across from the bed was a green monitor with a black screen. What the fuck happened while I was asleep?

I tried to focus my attention on something else and went to see what the knocking was for, maybe it was someone who can answer the questions boiling in my head. With my thought process much clearer then it was when I was asleep I walked to the door to my room and upon unlocking it push it open to reveal an empty hallway. I had kinda suspected that no one would be here due to the fact I heard whoever it was run away. Turning to close the door behind me I noticed a few new details. The door handle no longer had an insert for a key meaning even if I had the key to my room it wouldn't have been of much use; also now newly implanted on the wall was what looked to be a kind of scanner, what it did I had no clue. As soon as I closed the door I heard a click coming from inside and upon trying to open it I discovered the door had gone ahead and auto locked itself. Great, now I am not only extremely confused and I can no longer get into my room. Things were only getting slowly worse, maybe if I find a staff member around here I can pry some answers out of them.

With a new mission in mind, I set out to find anyone I could attempt to trade information with to figure out what happened to my room while I was asleep. As I turned the corner to the hallway with the door that leads to the deck I got exactly what I wanted. Standing there timidly was Tallulah who was keep of shuffling her feet while giving the boy she was talking to a slightly exasperated look. The boy she was talking too seemed to be a little flamboyant, he stood at a little over six foot and had a purple button up on with blue jeans. He was wearing this really nice black shoes and had on white gloves, he was standing there with a giant grin on his face with his right hand on his hip and his left gripping the black cloak with yellow stars going across it up like he was performing a trick. He was a bit of a polish color and had sparkling purple eyes and had combover jet black hair.

Taking a deep breath while preparing myself for a dangerous mental encounter I walked over and introduced myself, "Hi! I don't think we've met! My name is Caleb Liu!" I extended my left hand in an attempt of greeting.

For some reason people here don't know how to shake hands and letting his cloak fall down his back he grabbed my hand with both of his and shook vividly, "Nice to meet you! My name is Sanji Takami, the Ultimate Poet! I do hope we get along!"

 _ **Sanji Takami**_

 _ **Male, Sixteen years of age**_

 _ **The Ultimate Poet**_

I very much doubted I would be going out of my way to spend much time with him outside of classes but I put on my best smile and slowly took my hand back, "So onto more important matters, have either of you notice anything weird?"

"Nope! All that I noticed is some of my stuff went missing, a security camera has been placed in my room and two in the hall, and that the door to the outside of the ship is locked!" Sanji basically yelled with a dopey smile on his face.

"I think those count as weird," Tallulah said looking down at the floor seemingly mildly annoyed.

"Oh! Then yeah!" Sanji almost screamed with the same dopey smile.

Wanting to end the conversation with him as quickly as possible I got to the main point that had interested me,"So the door to the deck is locked?"

Tallulah was the one to reply this time,"When I woke up from my nap I came to get some fresh air, I found that the door was locked and that's when Sanji showed up. It's weird due to it being twenty minutes until we're all supposed to head to the deck."

"I woke up from a nap as well! It was around 3:30!" Through Sanji's yelling a detail stood out, 3:30, only half an hour after us. What about the other students?

"Well, I kind of want to look around the ship a bit in that case. I'm curious about what the ship has to offer," I said setting up an escape route.

"I'll come with," Tallulah said taking the same escape as she moved next to me.

"I'll stay here to see if it unlocks eventually!" Sanji said waving at us as we moved around the corner.

We moved down the hall and reached a big set of brown double doors. Pushing it open we left the gray carpet onto white marble. We entered a large room with three sets of brown tables, seat seats on each side of the table for a total of thirty seats. The walls were a pretty white color with two security cameras in opposite corners of the rooms. There was what looked like to be a kitchen behind a counter directly across from the doors with a monitor hanging above the said counter. There was another pair of brown double doors on the wall to the right of us. Standing in the near the table in the middle of the room was Cocoa and two other girls.

The figure that stood out to me the most was the slightly over six foot giant of a woman standing ahead of me. She has a toned build with muscular arms and legs and broad shoulders, with a pale skin complexion. Her face is angular but feminine with narrowed lavender eyes. She has platinum blonde hair, half of it shaved off on the left side of her face while the right side reaches the base of her neck. She was dressed in a navy blue turtleneck tanktop, black mid-thigh shorts, and gray-and-white Olympic shoes. She also wore a black wristband on each wrist. She had her arms crossed over her chest and eventually she took notice of us raising an eyebrow.

The other looked to be a sweet, doll-like girl with curly, ringleted light brown hair that's tied up in a high ponytail with a sparkly dark pink scrunchie. Her eyes are dark blue and oval shaped and a little wide while her complexion is pale and prone to going very red when embarrassed and is generally flawless. She had a round delicate face with delicate facial features. She wore a long-sleeved, knee-length plain black dress underneath a short-sleeved, shoulderless marshmallow-pink jumper which has pretty dark pink silk bows arranged in a pattern around the neckline and the hem. She had on stripy black-and-pink knee high socks, and black school shoes with bright pink leather flowers stuck to them. She wore a black bead necklace around her neck and matching bracelets around both her wrists. Additionally, on her left wrist, there is a wristwatch with a simple light pink leather strap. A roundish medium-sized light-brown handbag with a long strap hung across her body. Hanging off her bag was a keychain with Pusheen the cat hanging off of it.

"Ah! Caleb!" Cocoa said smiling.

"It's that fucking kid again!" Vincent popped in announcing his presence.

"You know him?" The giant of a woman asked.

"Yeah! Before I went asleep at 3:15, like I said earlier," Cocoa said.

"You went to sleep at 3:15, that seems around the time me, Tallulah, and Sanji went to sleep," I said glancing at Tallulah.

"So you must have noticed it as well Caleb," the smallish girl said putting her hand on the back of her head, "everyone we've talked too mysteriously got tired and went to bed from the times between 3 and 4. I think this is something looking into, but for now, I guess introductions are in order. I am Daiki Hamura, the Ultimate True Crime Writer."

 _ **Daiki Hamura**_

 _ **Female, Eighteen years ago**_

 ** _The Ultimate True Crime Writer_**

"I guess I should introduce myself as well," the larger woman followed,"I am Nastasya Volkova, the Ultimate Weightlifter."

 _ **Nastasya Volkova**_

 _ **Female, Eighteen years ago**_

 _ **The Ultimate Weightlifter**_

"So I'm guessing you girls have noticed how weird thing shave gotten then, any progress?" I asked curiously.

"Only the obvious things, I'm guessing that something, maybe a low dose of sleeping gas was released into the ventilation. Everyone including you, I'm assuming, went to sleep between 3 and 4. During that time the gas kept us asleep while the security cameras and monitors were installed and they locked the door that leads to the dock," Daiki said almost like she was talking to herself.

"That's much more then we were able to figure out," Tallulah said talking more to the floor then the group before us.

"That's what you can expect from a detective after all!" Cocoa said.

"It truly is impressive," Nastasya added.

"I'm not a detective though," Daiki said,"I just know a lot about this stuff from writing about crime. Anyways I think it would be useful if the two of you go meet the rest of the students. I personally need to go talk to this Sanji you mentioned earlier," give us a kind smile she walked past us and pushed open the doors into the hallway.

"She seems like she'll be helpful in figuring this out quickly," Tallulah said losing her meek tone as she spoke directly to me.

With these last words, we went through the double doors on the right wall, we entered into a spectacular hallway lined with doors on both sides. The floor was a purple carpet and the walls were see-through glass that was an aquarium with fish of all kinds swimming by. We began walking down the hall and reached two doors opposite of each other. One was a plain grey door with no doorknob on the left and on the right side was a pink door with a gold doorknob with a gold plate with the work Makeup on it. Tallulah picking the grey door we both approached it.

The door slid open as we approached it we heard an exasperated voice,"Do you know what personal information is?" A female voice said.

We had opened the door to sort of storage room. Boxes upon boxes filled the room, and shelves were lined with items from baseball bats, gloves, and gasoline and much more stuff. Standing near the door was the unpleasant Mary and another student when she saw me relief filled her eyes. It seemed she wasn't enjoying Mary's company much which I could relate too.

"H-hey! You must be another student going to Hope Peak's Sister School! Am I Tsubasa Emiko, the ultimate Social Worker! If you need help with anything l-let me know!"

 ** _Tsubasa Emiko_**

 ** _Female, Fifteen years of age_**

 ** _The Ultimate Social Worker_**

She had messy, straight black hair in a bun, her Eyes are green with a hint of blue. she has relatively tanned skin and although slightly skinny she was lightly muscled and fit. She wore black tracksuit pants, a thin green jacket with a creeper face on the back and a plain, long white tee. Around her neck was an ID holder and pen attached to a lanyard.

"Caleb hon! It's you!" Mary said a smile on her face.

"Hon?" Tallulah said raising her eyebrow at me," Did something change since I last saw you?"

"N-no!" I said quickly defending myself, "you know how I feel about dating and anything like that."

"So you've already encountered this unpleasant woman as well," Tsubasa said tapping her right foot.

"Unpleasant!?" Mary exclaimed shocked putting her hand on her heart, "all I did was ask when you lost your virginity."

"I'm only fifteen!" Tsubasa responded obviously annoyed, "I'll let you handle her."

Tsubasa pushed past us looking slightly annoyed.

"Geez, what's her problem, guess I'll walk around with you guys then?" Mary said.

I made eye contact with Tallulah and we turned and walked out and without a word back into the hall.

"H-hey!" We heard Mary say behind us as we pushed our way into the room that said Makeup.

We walked into a room that seemed like a beauty parlor chairs lined the sides and there were shelves and shelves of makeup. In the room where two new faces.

"This place is just absolutely perfect!" A female voice chimed in.

"I guess each to their own," a male voice came in response.

The girl had red hair that she wore long and down; she had bangs that she had parted to the left side of her face. She had deep hypnotizing red eyes and was fairly pale and has a few freckles on her face. Sakura has a curvy body type; However, even with her curves, she was clearly very underweight and skinny. Her face was smothered in makeup. Sahe had a light pink eyeshadow with light black mascara. There is a thin layer of pink lipstick on her lips as well. She wore a pastel pink overall dress that ends above her knees and has a frilly white shirt underneath. Her stockings are pink, have white bows on the edge of it, and go just underneath her knees. Her shoes are white low-heels with pink bows at the end and a pink bow that is tied around her neck. It was simple yet elegant.

The boy, on the other hand, was dressed professionally. He had black hair and chocolate brown eyes with light brown skin and a fair bit of muscle. He wore black, half-rimmed glasses along with black suit. He had red tie hanging from his neck and sported a pair of black gloves black dress shoes and a gold attorney's back pinned on his suit.

It took only a few seconds for the two to notice us,"Hello! My name is Sakura Yamamoto and I am the Ultimate Makeup Artist! Welcome to my Makeup lab!"

 _ **Sakura Yamamoto**_

 _ **Female, Sixteen years of age**_

 _ **The Ultimate Makeup Artist**_

"Makeup lab?" Tallulah asked tilting her head.

"That's what the map says this place is," the professional teen said pulling out the same weird phone I had found in my room. In a couple swipes, he showed us a map of the ship's Floor 1A which I guess is where we were and as clear as day across a square title Storage was another square was titled Makeup Lab.

'Why is there a Makeup Lab on a cruise ship?" I asked.

"I'm guessing the school built it for me!" Sakura chirped in excited," the map also says there is a Reader Lab on floor 2B and a Doll Making Lab on the deck! Rumor has it Hope's Peak staff has always gone above and beyond to make their students comfortable for there stay at the school!"

I had to question that response to myself. Yeah maybe they would have facilities like that at the school we were going too but on a cruise liner, we would be on until for the longest tomorrow afternoon? No even at the school itself with no way to guarantee if the students would even accept the offer to attend the school, it would take longer then a week to prepare that. Right?

"While we're doing introductions I may as well as introduce myself," the professional teen said reaching in his pocket and pulling out a pepper, after eating it with wincing at the pepper's heat he continued, "I am Firo Antaman, the Ultimate Defense Attorney at your service."

 _ **Firo Antaman**_

 _ **Male, Seventeen years of age**_

 _ **The Ultimate Defence Attorney**_

"What's with the pepper?" Tallulah asked confused.

"That's is like the fifth one you've eaten since you walked in here like five minutes.

"Fifth!?" I asked a bit shocked.

Firo smiled amusingly before he responded,"When I went to explore the storage room I found a box of peppers and I decided to just take the whole thing," after he finished speaking he then proceeded to take out a box titled Ghost Peppers.

"You mean that's what you were eating!" Tallulah asked in even more utter confusion.

"Well yeah, I like spicy food," Firo asked putting the box away, "by the way I'm not sharing."

"Keep them," I said, "though those are defiantly more than just spicy."

"I've had hotter," Firo said grinning.

I had to question if his ultimate talent should be should more along the lines of Ultimate Spicy food eater before realizing that was a ridiculous sounding name. After saying a quick goodbye we exited back into the aquarium hall and continued down it until we came to a door that read Second Floor. Opening it we were greeted with a green staircase that down to obviously the second floor, shrugging I headed down it and Tallulah quickly followed. We continued down until our feet touched a floor covered in yellow tile with walls painted pitch black. To the left of where the stairs ended was a bright red door that after trying to open was only greeted with a locked door we currently couldn't open. There was an electric pad next to it, no keyhole in the knob. Without finding out where it led we turned and headed the opposite way. Once we reached where the hallway bent there was a yellow door with a gold plate with the word Reader on it. This must have been what the map on the phone we were given called the Reader Lab.

Tallulah opened the door without hesitation and we walked into a room that was actually two floors high and was nothing but bookshelves lined with thousands of works of literature. Each shelf reached so high that if it toppled it would kill anyone underneath, good thing it seemed sturdy so no one would be dying anytime soon. Unsurprisingly Douglas was there with a book called IT, he seemed to be minding his own business as another person walked around the circle of shelves admiring them. He had curly black hair and wore a suit matching that of Firo without the black gloves. He had ice cold blue eyes that when he did notice my presence it seemed to pierce through me and it didn't help that those same eyes were giving a look the said go away. He approached us but with a look of obligation to do so more than friendly.

"Hello, my name is Max Talbert, the Ultimate Politician and pretty much-guaranteed ruler of your world in the future; who are you exactly?"

 _ **Max Talbert**_

 _ **Male, Fourteen years of age**_

 _ **The Ultimate Politician**_

I remember seeing this person on the news this past year, despite his age he has completing flipped the political world on his head, every suggestion and every word he says has gripped the people of America. People are already saying when he is old enough they are going to vote him for President though he seems much nicer on TV. The childlike innocence and cunning he shows on TV were nowhere to be found.

"My name is Ca-," I said before being cut off.

"I have no use for your name," Max said interrupting me, "what is your talent?"

"I was given the title of the Ultimate Vanisher," I responded a bit annoyed.

"Oh, so your the famous Vanisher that resides in New York which means," he stopped for a second to turn to Tullulah, "then you are the Ultimate Skip-Tracer who is friends with this petty criminal. I wonder what the police force would say if they knew you knew who he was.

"Don't call him a criminal," Tallulah said looking a bit peeved.

"More importantly how did you know that?" I asked a bit defensively.

"I know anything I want to know," Max seemed a grin on his face, "in fact, I was planning to send an anonymous tip to the police force there before well, I was invited here. I had no idea Hope's Peak invited petty criminals to such a prestigious school. No matter, just know the day you graduate well be your last day of freedom. Now get out of my sight you too, peasants and scum have no place near me."

Max turned and went back to looking at the shelves of books leaving both me and Tallulah annoyed. What a big mouth for such a young kid. We left the Readers lab and following the bend of the hallway came to two doors. A red double door and a simple magenta door straight at the end. I tried to pull open the magenta door but it was locked similar to the red door from earlier. Strange, that was the third locked door we had encountered since we reawoke earlier. Hoping to solve this dead-end problem and get deeper into the ship we opened the red double doors and came into a giant theater room that seemed like it could host at least three hundred people.

Standing before us was a giant of a man. He had short brown hair with hazel eyes. He was tanned as if he was working on a farm for weeks and was extremely muscular but nowhere near Nastasya. He had what looked like a dimple on his chin but was hard to see due to a mustache and what looked like the beginnings of a beard slowly growing. He had on a simple pair of blue jeans with a black T-shirt that had a white phoenix on it. Over it, he wore a grey jacket with black markings and a backward cap with state champions logo on its side. Tallulah seeing the giant man in front of the door when we opened it jumped back a bit.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" He said, "I didn't mean you scare you! Here let me introduce myself, my name is Ichiro Aiko. You may know me as the Ultimate American Football Star."

 _ **Ichiro Aiko**_

 _ **Male, Sixteen years of age**_

 _ **The Ultimate American Football Star**_

"H-hey," I said a little intimidated, "I'm Caleb Liu and the person standing behind me afraid is Tallulah, don't mind her."

Tallulah stuck her tongue out at me before walking back next to me.

"Nice to meet you two! I hope we're able to get along as classmates and friends!" He said giving us a thumbs up.

He was a bit big but he honestly seemed like a nice enough person though I guess I'd need to get to know him a bit more before coming to a final conclusion on that matter. Maybe becoming friends with him wasn't impossible.

"Oh no!" He yelled suddenly tensing up.

"W-what's wrong?" Tallulah said gaining her composure back.

"It's nine o'clock!" He yelled pointing at a clock mounted on the wall, "I'll talk to you guys more at the party!"

Almost picking me up he moved me out of the way and sprinted down the hall. Tallulah checked her wristwatch and confirmed it was indeed nine at night. Agreeing that it was a possibility that the door leading to the deck of the ship. We traveled back down the yellow tiled hall and back up the stairs to the first floor of the ship. We walked down the aquarium hall in silence before entering back into the cafeteria. It was there that I was attacked by a strange individual. I was grabbed and yanked forwards into a tight squeeze and all I could see was Tallulah jumping back in surprise. I was being pulled into something that was making it very difficult to breathe.

I was released and heard a cheer from a voice filled with pure joy, "new friends!"

The individual that had pulled me into a bear hug with warning stood before me a goofy smile on her face. She was taller than me and had a floppy brown hat on her head with long orange hair flowing down her back to her waist. She had light white skin and hazelnut eyes that gave me a warm feeling. She wore a purple sweater that was very form fitting and showed that the object that was used to cut off my oxygen was her chest, that alone made me shudder a little. She had yellow gloves on and a hot pink skirt that reached her knees and the rest was covered with black leggings and brown shoes with a bit of dirt covering them. A very weird but almost innocent mash-up of clothes.

"You two must be Kay and Lu! Kimu told me about you! I am Haru Sakamoto, the Ultimate Gardener! Let's be friends!"

 _ **Haru Sakamoto**_

 _ **Female, Eighteen years of age**_

 _ **The Ultimate Gardener**_

"Kay? Lu? Kimu?" Tallulah asked utterly confused.

"I like to give all my friends cute and adorable names! Kimu is Daiki Hanamura!" Haru explained raising her finger into the air giving a look of deep thought before switching back into her apparently default happy face.

"That's interesting?" I said trying to keep up with her upbeat attitude.

"Anyways! That's enough from me! Kimu said that I should let everyone know that the door to the deck is indeed unlocked now! So once Little M and Od get here I'll meet everyone else there! You should get a going!" Haru said before basically shoving us into the dormitory hall.

Once the doors shut behind us Tallulah let out a sigh, "Everyone here is far too, what's the word, interesting for me to keep up with. They tire me out."

"I wonder how many more people we have yet to meet," I said sharing the same feelings as Tallulah, "While I do like Cocoa and Ichiro I can't imagine hanging out with anyone else."

"I can't imagine hanging out with anyone else here besides you," Tallulah responded causing us both to laugh, "Hopefully there are only a few more students, I'm getting tired of this whole introduction thing. Taking way to long."

"Well let's go to the deck and find out," I responded. I've already counted fifteen people so far including myself, how many more students could Hope's Peak possibly invite.

I quickly realized we were yet to finish as we turned the corner and saw two more new faces talking with each. Well more like one face and another half of way face would be a bit more accurate in this case I guess. There were two fellow male teenagers talking to each other in front of the door so we had no choice but to introduce ourselves. The first boy has dark brown eyes with light brown hair that was black on the edges, he has a white-ish skin color and his right arm covered in burn marks up to the shoulder. He wears a white long sleeved shirt covered in seemingly random scorch marks; he wears baggy grey pants and white socks with black sneakers.

The second boy was the most unique looking of the two. He had short black hair that is disheveled, narrowed yellow eyes with dark bags under them, and ghostly pale skin. The right half of his face is covered by a mask with only the eye showing. He was wearing a black leather jacket that is zipped closed with two buckled straps across the torso, along with a white and navy blue long-sleeved turtleneck shirt underneath. He also wears black jeans that are worn out and steel-toed black boots. The brown leather half mask that he wears covers the right side of his face, primarily the nose and mouth, with both eyeholes open and the strap around the top of his head. He looked pretty creepy, I obviously kept that thought to myself as to not insult him.

As we approached the two took notice of us and it took a second for anyone to say anything because for at least three whole seconds we waited for the other side to start introductions.

Tallulah sighed and went about introducing herself, "My name is Tallulah Hall, the Ultimate Skip-Tracer and that is Caleb Liu, my best friend. Aren't you Isao Sakamoto? I meet you earlier today."

He scratched his leather masked as he talked, "that's me all right, Isao Sakamoto, the Ultimate Interrogator. Hope we get along."

 _ **Isao Sakamoto**_

 _ **Male, Sixteen years of age**_

 _ **The Ultimate Interrogator**_

He may have said he hoped we get along but his voice was one of complete indifference. The boy with the dark brown eyes meanwhile looked at Tallulah and immediately seemed curious for some reason, it seemed since I had first looked at his face he was in a deep train of thought.

Isao tapped him on the shoulder bringing him back to reality and he went about introducing himself, "Hello there, my name is Jao Fushiido, the Ultimate Pyrotechnician."

 _ **Jao Fushiido**_

 _ **Male, Seventeen years of age**_

 _ **The Ultimate Pyrotechnician**_

By this time Tallulah had noticed that Jao was studying her and it looked like she was becoming creeped out, "Well I would love to stay and chat but I we've got to hurry and head to the deck, you know things have been weird lately and hopefully the staff could have some answers for us."

"Oh that's true," Jao said, "I'll catch up later there is something that I am curious about that I must study."

With that Jao walked away and Isao cocked his head to the side giving us a look and then walked past us following him. Shrugging my shoulders at Tallulah we tried the door. It easily turned and opened with a problem, it was the first thing that made us smile since we had awoken back in our rooms. Finally, all the strange things would come to an end. That's what we thought at least, stepping out of the ship we were greeted with the night hair, honestly if we weren't given a reasonable answer for all this I was getting off this damn boat. I walked to the railing and my breath caught in my throat. Tallulah began to ask what was wrong but she stopped mid-sentence as she saw what I saw. The ship wasn't supposed to take off until 9:30 tonight, if that was the case why were we in the middle of the sea with no land in sight heading who knows where. Confusion swept my thoughts as I stared at the clear beautiful ocean beneath us. It continued down until I couldn't see anymore stopping at the edges leading into a dark void. A dark void I felt was meant to swallow us up.

 **To be continued...**

* * *

 **Okay! Okay! Okay! I finally got this finished after hours of typing! Now if your tired of introductions don't worry because there are only a couple more I have yet to show off. So yeah I'm curious about what you guys think of the story so far. At the time I'm typing this I have already planned out the terrible demise of everyone who will die so don't worry! So not wanting to bore you guys anymore with my author's note this is goodbye. Look forward to the final part of the prologue next week.**


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